In the prior art, it is common practice to receive printed sheets in a stacker and to thereby dispose the sheets in a stack and to tie them into a bundle of sheets. The bundle is then commonly transported to a signature feeder where the sheets are removed from the bundle and are disposed in the feeder in single form. Prior art disclosures showing generally the handling of bundles of sheets coming from a stacker are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,739,924 and 3,825,134 and 3,853,234, and also U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,075 simply shows the formation of a stack of sheets and the movement of that stack along a conveyor.
The aforementioned prior art does not disclose apparatus or method for handling a pallet with bundles of sheets disposed thereon in a prone position and tipping the pallet and the bundles to an upstanding position and then supporting and moving the bundles along a conveyor and to selected dispensing stations located at various signature feeders which are commonly known in the art. That is, this particular invention is concerned with receiving the bundles from the prior art type of stacker and bundler and taking those bundles from a prone position on a pallet and standing them upright and moving them along conveyors to where the bundles are finally positioned in a signature feeder.
In accomplishing the aforementioned objectives of this invention, the present invention provides apparatus and method for efficiently and automatically handling the bundles, and the operator of the apparatus is not required to lift any of the bundles, and the bundles can therefore be heavy and large and no special lift truck or the like is required once the bundles are placed on the tiltable pallet holder which converts the bundles stable prone position to an upstanding position where the bundles are then under the control of a conveyor which permits selective dispensing of the individual bundles to the individual signature feeders. In further accomplishing these objectives, the apparatus and method of this invention is such that the handling of the bundles is completely automated and powered apparatus is utilized for positioning the bundles in the upright position and for moving them along a conveyor and for taking them out of their closely stacked position in rows of bundles and taking one row at a time along a conveyor and thereby obtaining control of an individual bundle which can be directed to a selected signature feeder, all without requiring that the operator lift the bundles or maneuver a lift truck or any such manual action. Accordingly, with the apparatus and method of this invention, the operator only needs to control switches and the like, such as by pushing the necessary switch buttons, and the bundles are completely controlled from the initial prone position on the pallet and through the movement to the upstanding position and along the several conveyors disclosed herein and to the final position at the signature feeders.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.